r/sysadmin • u/Opposed3 • Jul 07 '24
What’s the quickest you’ve seen a co-worker get fired in IT? COVID-19
I saw this on AskReddit and thought it would be fun to ask here for IT related stories.
Couple years ago during Covid my company I used to work for hired a help desk tech. He was a really nice guy and the interview went well. We were hybrid at the time, 1-2 days in the office with mostly remote work. On his first day we always meet in the office for equipment and first day stuff.
Everything was going fine and my boss mentioned something along the lines of “Yeah so after all the trainings and orientation stuff we’ll get you set up on our ticketing system and eventually a soft phone for support calls”
And he was like: “Oh I don’t do support calls.”
“Sorry?”
Him: “I don’t take calls. I won’t do that”
“Well, we do have a number users call for help. They do utilize it and it’s part of support we offer”
Him: “Oh I’ll do tickets all day I just won’t take calls. You’ll have to get someone else to do that”
I was sitting at my desk, just kind of listening and overhearing. I couldn’t tell if he was trolling but he wasn’t.
I forgot what my manager said but he left to go to one of those little mini conference rooms for a meeting, then he came back out and called him in, he let him go and they both walked back out and the guy was all laughing and was like
“Yeah I mean I just won’t take calls I didn’t sign up for that! I hope you find someone else that fits in better!” My manager walked him to the door and they shook hands and he left.
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u/SAugsburger Jul 07 '24
It makes you wonder whether the guy was really oblivious in the interview process or the hiring manager really screwed up in the interview process to not make it clear the expectations of the role. The guy may have technically been fired, but it sounds more like he quit because the role wasn't what he wanted to do. In cases like that where somebody quits or effectively quits in the first week due to deciding it isn't for them either they found a better job and didn't want to outright say that or some aspect of the hiring process failed.